XVII.

If Griffith Gaunt suffered anguish, he inflicted agony. Mrs. Gaunt was a
high-spirited, proud, and sensitive woman; and he crushed her with foul
words. Leonard was a delicate, vain, and sensitive man, accustomed to
veneration. Imagine such a man hurled to the ground, and trampled upon.

Griffith should not have fled; he should have stayed and enjoyed his
vengeance on these two persons. It might have cooled him a little had he
stopped and seen the immediate consequences of his savage act.

The priest rose from the ground, pale as ashes, and trembling with fear
and hate.

The lady was leaning, white as a sheet, against a tree, and holding it
with her very nails for a little support.

They looked round at one another,--a piteous glance of anguish and
horror. Then Mrs. Gaunt turned and flung her arm round so that the palm
of her hand, high raised, confronted Leonard. I am thus particular
because it was a gesture grand and terrible as the occasion that called
it forth,--a gesture that _spoke_, and said, "Put the whole earth and
sea between us forever after this."

The next moment she bent her head and rushed away, cowering and wringing
her hands. She made for her house as naturally as a scared animal for
its lair; but, ere she could reach it, she tottered under the shame, the
distress, and the mere terror, and fell fainting, with her fair forehead
on the grass.

Caroline Ryder was crouched in the doorway, and did not see her come
out of the grove, but only heard a rustle; and then saw her proud
mistress totter forward and lie, white, senseless, helpless, at her very
feet.

Ryder uttered a scream, but did not lose her presence of mind. She
instantly kneeled over Mrs. Gaunt, and loosened her stays with quick and
dexterous hand.

It was very like the hawk perched over and clawing the ringdove she has
struck down.

But people with brains are never quite inhuman: a drop of lukewarm pity
entered even Ryder's heart as she assisted her victim. She called no one
to help her; for she saw something very serious had happened, and she
felt sure Mrs. Gaunt would say something imprudent in that dangerous
period when the patient recovers consciousness but has not all her wits
about her. Now Ryder was equally determined to know her mistress's
secrets, and not to share the knowledge with any other person.

It was a long swoon; and, when Mrs. Gaunt came to, the first thing she
saw was Ryder leaning over her, with a face of